Digital audio playback devices (DAPD) are among the most popular consumer products created by the digital revolution. The term digital audio playback devices generally is applied to any device that stores and plays back audio files in a purely electronic format. The purely electronic format eliminates the need for mechanical parts that are comparatively expensive and easy to break. Typically, a digital audio playback device contains a large non-volatile memory, such as a flash random access memory (RAM), that stores, for example, 64 megabytes (MB) of audio files. One of the most popular types of digital audio playback devices on the market is the MP3 player. A user can download about an hour of MP3 music files to an MP3 player from another device, such as a personal computer (PC).
Users of digital audio playback devices interact and control the digital audio playback device with the help of a user interface (UI). The user interface of a digital audio playback device may be provided directly on the digital audio playback device (for example, a conventional CD player with buttons and an LCD display on the front panel of the player) or on another device, such as a PC, directly connected to the digital audio playback device. Frequently, a digital audio playback device may have a built-in UI and also may use a UI on an attached device (like a PC) for added convenience and features. For example, the RUSH™ MP3 player from Philips Electronics includes an LCD-based UI on the device and also operates via a UI software application on a connected personal computer. As digital audio playback devices become smaller and smaller, there is less room for control buttons and video displays on the exterior of the digital audio playback device. A pocket-sized digital audio playback device may have only three or four control buttons and a tiny LCD for displaying alphanumeric data. Hence, digital audio playback devices controlled by a user interface on a connected device are becoming increasingly common. It is common to refer to a UI built directly on the portable audio device as an “on-board UI.” It also is common to refer to a UI on a connected device as a “connected UI.”
An exemplary connected user interface (UI) on a connected PC may comprise a display that has the appearance of some type of conventional music playing device, such as a CD player. For example, the user interface may contain a Skip Forward button, a Skip Back button, a Pause button, a Stop button, and the like. The user presses these buttons using the mouse attached to the connected PC. The user interacts with the digital audio playback device while the digital audio playback device is connected to the PC, usually through some type of cradle device. While connected, the user can erase audio files currently in the digital audio playback device and can download new audio files to the digital audio playback device. When the user is finished configuring audio files on the digital audio playback device, the user can remove the digital audio playback device from its cradle and carry it around with him.
Digital audio playback devices and connected user interfaces for those devices are often developed and distributed by different parties. Typically, the connected user interface executed by the PC may control a digital audio playback device via some software libraries made available by the manufacturer of the digital audio playback device and resident on the connected device. In many cases, a digital audio playback device user can download the user interface software libraries from the Internet. These libraries typically consist of the device drivers needed to communicate with and control the digital audio playback device over the PC connection.
These libraries also contain implementations of application programming interfaces (APIs) that are supported by the digital audio playback device. An API is the interface through which a software program accesses lower level software functions, such as an operating system. The application programming interfaces for digital audio playback devices are often agreed to by several manufacturers of digital audio playback devices. As a result, a consumer may select one of several available user interface applications to operate the consumer's digital audio playback device.
A typical user interface application typically operates any of several digital audio playback devices in the market. Using application programming interfaces, developers and sellers of connected user interface application software can establish a relationship with consumers via the “look and feel” and the ease of use of their proprietary user interfaces. Further, connected user interface makers are also able to uniquely brand their user interface software and provide remote access capability for the consumer to visit the user interface maker's web site(s) of choice.
However, independent developers and sellers of connected user interface software are often reluctant to develop a customized user interface for each manufacturer of digital audio playback devices. This reluctance is partly due to the high development cost to customize user interface software for each manufacturer. The reluctance also is due to a strategy of connected user interface developers and sellers to attract consumers to a web site of the user interface maker's choice.
As noted above, user interface makers can use application programming interfaces to have their user interface software connect to and control any of several digital audio playback devices. Digital audio playback device makers would also like to have the ability to control the user interface software from their digital audio playback device (or associated drivers) and have a manufacturer-specific logo displayed on the user interface or allow the user to connect to a web site selected by the manufacturer of the digital audio playback device.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for systems and methods that provide an interface that digital audio playback device manufacturers may use to control the user interface software operating on a connected processing system, such as a personal computer. In particular, there is a need in the art for systems and methods that provide an interface that may be used by the digital audio playback device manufacturer to direct the consumer to a web site recommended by or operated by the digital audio playback device manufacturer.